IND vs ENG | Twitter reacts as Kuldeep acts on Sarfaraz's 'aage badhega' forecast to outwit Pope

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Despite being a heavily statistics-reliant sport, a priceless cricketing trait that cannot be put in numbers is game awareness. Sarfaraz Khan proved the sheer value of tactical nous in the Dharamsala Test by directing Kuldeep Yadav with an acute prognosis that culminated in Ollie Pope's stumping.

England survived a hellacious first hour of play against the new ball on the opening day of the fifth Test in wintry Dharamsala to bring up a fifth half-century first wicket stand in the series before Ben Duckett succumbed to Kuldeep Yadav. Nevertheless, given the unplayable scale of seam and swing movement on offer through the session, the visitors seemed to have got through to Lunch relatively unscathed as the left-arm wrist spinner took the ball in hand for the final over before the break. However, courtesy of Sarfaraz Khan's brilliant game awareness, England were denied the satisfaction of getting through to Lunch with just the loss of a solitary wicket.

While Kuldeep stood on his mark prepared to deliver the third ball of the 26th over, Sarfaraz from leg slip hollered at the bowler claiming that Pope "badhega aage, badhega aage (he'll come forward, he'll come forward)." Taking note, the wily campaigner floated a length ball much like the stock spinner that had turned towards the batter on the previous delivery, and Pope obliged the prognosis to dance down the track. However, Kuldeep had cunningly delivered a deceptive googly that pitched less than a yard in front of the charging batter before deviating sharply from the willow and straight into the hands of Dhruv Jurel. Pope was stranded in no man's land and the wicket-keeper completed as easy a stumping as they come to mark Lunch with England down to 100/2.

Twitterati was all praise for Sarfaraz's instincts and took to social media to highlight the fascinating sequence of events.

Kuldeep strikes

Good read of the game

True

A shared session

Moye moye

Heading straight to Pavillion

Stumped

OP Jurel

Googly unleashed

2nd one!

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